Your payment depends on your earnings record and the age you start claiming

Social Security calculates your monthly payment based on how much you earned during your working years and which age you choose to start receiving benefits. There is no fixed amount — two people born the same year can receive very different payments. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a formula that looks at your 35 highest-earning years, adjusts them for inflation, and then applies a benefit calculation that changes depending on whether you claim at 62, your full retirement age (between 66 and 67 for most people now), or 70.

The payment you receive is also reduced if you claim before your full retirement age, and increased if you delay past it. This means you have a real choice to make, and the choice changes your lifetime benefit by tens of thousands of dollars.

Key Takeaways

  • Your payment amount is based on your 35 highest-earning years, so gaps in work history or low-earning years lower your benefit.
  • Claiming at 62 gives you a smaller monthly payment than waiting until 67 or 70, but you receive payments for more years overall.
  • You can see your estimated payment by creating an account on ssa.gov and viewing your Social Security Statement.
  • Your full retirement age is between 66 and 67 depending on your birth year, and this is the age SSA uses as the baseline for your payment amount.
  • If you were married, divorced, or widowed, you may be able to receive a payment based on someone else's earnings record in addition to or instead of your own.

How SSA calculates your monthly payment

The Social Security Administration starts by taking your 35 highest-earning years and adjusting each year's earnings for inflation using a national wage index. If you worked fewer than 35 years, they count the missing years as zero, which lowers your average. Once they have your average indexed monthly earnings (AIME), they apply a formula called the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) that converts that average into a monthly benefit.

The PIA formula uses bend points — dollar thresholds that change each year. For 2024, the formula roughly gives you 90 percent of your first $1,174 in average monthly earnings, 32 percent of earnings between $1,174 and $7,078, and 15 percent of earnings above $7,078. This means your first dollars of earnings replace a higher percentage of your income than your later dollars do. A person who earned $30,000 a year gets a higher replacement rate than a person who earned $120,000 a year.

The exact bend points change every January, so the payment formula is slightly different each year. You can see the current bend points on ssa.gov, but you do not need to calculate this yourself — SSA does it for you.

What your age at claiming means for your payment

Your full retirement age (FRA) is the age SSA uses as the baseline. For people born between 1943 and 1954, FRA is 66. For people born between 1955 and 1960, it rises gradually to 67. For people born in 1960 or later, FRA is 67. This is the age at which you receive 100 percent of your calculated benefit.

If you claim at 62, your payment is reduced by about 30 percent (for someone with FRA of 67). If you claim at 70, your payment is increased by about 24 percent. The reduction or increase is permanent — it applies to every payment you receive for the rest of your life. This is why the decision matters: claiming at 62 versus 70 can mean a difference of $400 to $600 or more per month, depending on your earnings record.

The trade-off is that if you claim early, you get payments for more years, but each payment is smaller. If you claim late, each payment is larger, but you receive fewer payments overall. The break-even point — where the total amount received is roughly equal — is usually around age 80 to 82, depending on your specific situation.

How to find your estimated payment

The most accurate way to see what you will receive is to create a my Social Security account on ssa.gov. Once you log in, you can view your Social Security Statement, which shows your earnings record and your estimated monthly payment at ages 62, your full retirement age, and 70. You will need to provide your Social Security number, date of birth, and email address to set up the account.

The statement also shows how many work credits you have accumulated. You need 40 work credits to receive retirement benefits (roughly 10 years of work), and you earn up to 4 credits per year. If you have not yet reached 40 credits, the statement will show you how many more you need.

If you do not want to create an online account, you can call SSA at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) and ask for an estimate. You can also visit your local Social Security office in person, though wait times are often long. The online account is usually the fastest option.

How work gaps and low-earning years affect your benefit

Because SSA uses your 35 highest-earning years, any year you did not work counts as a zero in the calculation. If you worked 30 years, the five missing years pull down your average. This is why people who took time out for caregiving, education, or unemployment often receive lower benefits than people with continuous work histories.

Similarly, if you had years of very low earnings, those years are included in your 35-year average and reduce your benefit. You cannot remove these years from the calculation, but you can see exactly which years SSA is counting on your Social Security Statement. Some people find that working a few more years in higher-earning jobs can replace the lowest-earning years in the calculation and increase their benefit.

Payments based on a spouse's or ex-spouse's earnings record

If you were married for at least 10 years and are now divorced, you may be able to receive a payment based on your ex-spouse's earnings record. You must be at least 62 years old, and your ex-spouse must be at least 62 or at least 62 and already receiving benefits (the rules vary slightly). The payment you receive this way is called a spousal benefit, and it is separate from any benefit based on your own earnings.

If you are currently married, you can receive a spousal benefit equal to up to 50 percent of your spouse's full retirement age benefit, but only after your spouse has started receiving benefits. If you are a widow or widower, you can receive a survivor benefit based on your deceased spouse's earnings record, and you can start receiving this benefit as early as age 60 (or 50 if you are disabled).

The rules for these payments are complex and depend on your age, your spouse's age, and when each of you starts claiming. You can discuss your specific situation with SSA by calling 1-800-772-1213 or visiting ssa.gov.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I see what I will get before I turn 62?

Yes. Create a my Social Security account on ssa.gov to view your estimated payment at different ages. The estimate is based on your current earnings record and assumes you will continue working at your recent average earnings level until you claim. If your income changes significantly, the estimate will change too.

What if I worked in another country?

SSA counts only earnings from U.S. employment toward your benefit. However, some countries have agreements with the United States that allow work credits from those countries to count toward U.S. Social Security. Contact SSA to find out whether your country has such an agreement and how it affects your benefit.

Will my payment change after I start receiving it?

Yes. Your payment is adjusted each year for cost-of-living increases (COLA). SSA announces the COLA percentage in October, and the increase takes effect in January. Your payment may also change if you continue working after you start receiving benefits, because SSA recalculates your benefit each year to account for new earnings.

What happens to my payment if I keep working after I claim?

If you claim before your full retirement age and continue working, SSA reduces your payment by $1 for every $2 you earn above an annual limit (the limit changes each year). Once you reach your full retirement age, there is no reduction, no matter how much you earn. This is an important reason some people wait to claim until their full retirement age or later.

Is there a maximum Social Security payment?

Yes. The maximum benefit in 2024 is around $3,822 per month for someone who claims at 70 with a very high earnings record. Most people receive less. The maximum is based on the earnings cap — SSA only counts earnings up to a certain amount each year (in 2024, that cap is $168,600). Earnings above that cap do not count toward your benefit.